I'm pretty amazed, because there wasn't any thread about Hammerfall before this one. Anyways, Hammerfall is a Power Metal band from Sweden. They have released quite some albums now and they will release a new compilation cd, this year. I re-discovered them lately. I used to like them very much, but I forgot about them for a while. As I said before, I re-discovered them, and I wanted to make a thread about them, because I'd like to know what you guys think.

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EericAccount deleted

12.05.2009 at 09:55

Yeah, Threshold album has only two good songs, Natural High and Howlin' with Tupac

The latest one is pretty OK, I like the new guitarist better as well...

imo it's awful. the only song that is OK was Legion.

the only good song on it imo is Punish and Enslave, still, that's not to say they haven't gone downhill for the past 3 albums...

maybe i'm biased because they're the first traditional metal-influenced band that i ever listened to on a daily basis(and yeah, you guessed it, i only had the first 3 albums) and i know all the lyrics to all the songs of the first 3 albums though.

or maybe Stefan leaving the band was a huge mistake.

still, it would have been interesting if Jesper Stromblad remained even to record one album(though i see he is playing drums on some tracks on Glory To The Brave o.O), i love his work in In Flames, i think he and Oscar would have made a great combo.. Oscar playing rhythm guitar and backing vocals and Jesper going ultra-catchy-Iron-Maiden-gone-emo guitar melodies on us with the occasional melodic solo dueling with a shredding solo by Oscar.

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Sing me a song, you're a singer
Do me a wrong, you're a bringer of evil.

their first 4 albums were excellent, the 5th one is ok, but the last 2 show they are rapidly running out of ideas and Stefan leaving was a really bad thing for the band. i hope he reconsiders 'cause the riffs and solo's just don't sound like they did.

The first 3 albums were OK. After that the band started to suck and reach a new low with every new album.

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"Society failed to tolerate me
And I have failed to tolerate society"

I still refuse to believe how shitty they have become, the only memorable song on their last album is Punish and Enslave and don't get me started on Last Man Standing.. though i do realize they couldn't repeat themselves to no end, but not like this. their last album is absolutely nauseating. i'm listening right now to A Legend Reborn, one of the best songs they have ever written imo, it would be an absolutely monstrous live song, it's epic, catchy and heavy as FUCK like most of their earlier mid-paced songs, but it's probably never gonna see light of day again

same with other great tracks like Legacy of Kings, Stone Cold or Steel Meets Steel, all exceptional heavy power metal songs that beat Stratovarius and Sonata Arctica's asses to no end.

now they have lowered themselves to writing ultra-catchy ball-less wankery like Any Means Necessary or the atrocious Life Is Now. they've become a gayer version of recent Edguy. at least Edguy's live anthems are interesting.
the heavy and catchy riffs are gone, the Accept-like chanting sounds fake as fuck now, the songs don't flow, Joacim has gotten fat and Oscar dyed his fucking hair blond.. it's not the same band anymore, and Stefan leaving the band was the final nail in the coffin...

HF is by far the only metal band to truly have disappointed me. when i saw them at Wacken except for the first 2 songs i genuinely felt ashamed of the Hammerfall t-shirt i was wearing.

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Sing me a song, you're a singer
Do me a wrong, you're a bringer of evil.

I still refuse to believe how shitty they have become, the only memorable song on their last album is Punish and Enslave and don't get me started on Last Man Standing.. though i do realize they couldn't repeat themselves to no end, but not like this. their last album is absolutely nauseating. i'm listening right now to A Legend Reborn, one of the best songs they have ever written imo, it would be an absolutely monstrous live song, it's epic, catchy and heavy as FUCK like most of their earlier mid-paced songs, but it's probably never gonna see light of day again

same with other great tracks like Legacy of Kings, Stone Cold or Steel Meets Steel, all exceptional heavy power metal songs that beat Stratovarius and Sonata Arctica's asses to no end.

now they have lowered themselves to writing ultra-catchy ball-less wankery like Any Means Necessary or the atrocious Life Is Now. they've become a gayer version of recent Edguy. at least Edguy's live anthems are interesting.
the heavy and catchy riffs are gone, the Accept-like chanting sounds fake as fuck now, the songs don't flow, Joacim has gotten fat and Oscar dyed his fucking hair blond.. it's not the same band anymore, and Stefan leaving the band was the final nail in the coffin...

HF is by far the only metal band to truly have disappointed me. when i saw them at Wacken except for the first 2 songs i genuinely felt ashamed of the Hammerfall t-shirt i was wearing.

Agreed. I understand your feelings about this band. They started very well but they're utterly pathetic and sucky since a while.

The only difference is I can think of dozens of other bands who disappointed me as much as Hammerfall throughout the 25 years or so I've been listening to metal.

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"Society failed to tolerate me
And I have failed to tolerate society"

ErnilEnNaurAccount deleted

14.02.2011 at 14:41

I've never heard a more boring power metal band in my entire life. It's like the band members have the magic power to literally translate the universal concept of average into music. It's the kind of music that I would write if I had no ideas, no inspiration and absolutely no desire to make music in the first place.

I've never heard a more boring power metal band in my entire life. It's like the band members have the magic power to literally translate the universal concept of average into music. It's the kind of music that I would write if I had no ideas, no inspiration and absolutely no desire to make music in the first place.

I've never heard a more boring power metal band in my entire life. It's like the band members have the magic power to literally translate the universal concept of average into music. It's the kind of music that I would write if I had no ideas, no inspiration and absolutely no desire to make music in the first place.

so, whats your favorite HF album?

I'd have to go with Legacy Of Kings, but this is really like asking which is my favorite of the Star Wars prequels, I don't like any, so picking a favorite is sort of pointless. What I can say however, is that after Crimson Thunder Hammerfall went from a band that sounded average and boring to a band that sounds like they are being average and boring on purpose. I don't think that's the case, but IDK. Their sound and production is actually good and I can tell that they put effort into that, but the songwriting is close to non-existent, especially on their later albums.

That's my two cents, if you enjoy Hammerfall, then I am really glad for you.

I've never heard a more boring power metal band in my entire life. It's like the band members have the magic power to literally translate the universal concept of average into music. It's the kind of music that I would write if I had no ideas, no inspiration and absolutely no desire to make music in the first place.

so, whats your favorite HF album?

I'd have to go with Legacy Of Kings, but this is really like asking which is my favorite of the Star Wars prequels, I don't like any, so picking a favorite is sort of pointless. What I can say however, is that after Crimson Thunder Hammerfall went from a band that sounded average and boring to a band that sounds like they are being average and boring on purpose. I don't think that's the case, but IDK. Their sound and production is actually good and I can tell that they put effort into that, but the songwriting is close to non-existent, especially on their later albums.

That's my two cents, if you enjoy Hammerfall, then I am really glad for you.

I think the explanation is they are lazy and there only for money. They admitted themselves to be there for the money in interviews.

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They shake your hand and they smile and they buy you a drink
They say we'll be your friends we'll stick with you till the end
But everybody's only looking out for themselves
And you say who can you trust I'll tell you nobody

I think the explanation is they are lazy and there only for money. They admitted themselves to be there for the money in interviews.

That explains it then. I was willing to consider that maybe they loved metal, but simply lacked any talent in the songwriting area and so they did the best they could, but laziness and a desire to make money is a better explanation. As a songwriter I can easily recognize effortless music, but with no other band (with the possible exception of the later career Within Temptation and Sirenia) has it been this obvious. Could you provide a link to that interview though? I'd hate to condemn a band without solid evidence.

Could you provide a link to that interview though? I'd hate to condemn a band without solid evidence.

Unfortunately, I can't post any link. It's something I heard already long ago.

----
They shake your hand and they smile and they buy you a drink
They say we'll be your friends we'll stick with you till the end
But everybody's only looking out for themselves
And you say who can you trust I'll tell you nobody

If I remember well, Oscar Dronjak said something similar just before releasing Renegade. He explained they were taking a new direction in the music to "be more succesfull", that is, do some simplistic mainstream-friendly stuff for money.
Also explains why the two great HF albums were before this change.

HammerFall was the band that got me into metal (like a gateway drug into epicness) so I will always like them. However, now that Infected is out, HammerFall has definitely changed and it's something I've noticed since Chapter V. They've been slowly and gradually getting darker over time and with Infected it's like they've finally embraced it a little. Don't get me wrong, HammerFall still sounds like HammerFall but Infected is not Legacy of Kings. It's still good, 80's style metal, focused on being fun and larger than life, but not quite the glorious sword-raising their early stuff was. In fact, everything's been getting darker these days, no thanks to the massive surge of popularity of the occult in pop culture entertainment (movies, books, music, etc.). I'm a little tired of zombies, to be honest . . .

Been a HammerFall fan for a few years now. I think their best album is Crimson Thunder. I like just about every song on that album, even though it has been a while since I have last listened to it. It starts off strong with Riders of the Storm and keeps going throughout. I think that Trailblazers is probably the best song on the album. Unfortunately, I don't have anything past Chapter V. Been wanting to get back into them, but just haven't.